Spear Pillar
by xjoedirtx
Summary: What if instead of Ash, Brock, and Dawn saving the day at Mt. Coronet, it was Joe, Alex, and Steph, from Joe and Umbreon? Set during Joe and Umbreon: Sinnoh Adventures, as an add-on to a later chapter. Read and Review!
1. Failure at the Lakes

_Joe_

I was surprised that Flygon was able to fly such a long distance. When we battled Mars at Lake Verity, she took a shadow ball straight to her midsection from Purugly, and I didn't think she'd get up. By the time she did, however, Mars had gotten away with Mesprit in a Team Galactic helicopter. If my other pokemon hadn't been busy fighting the rest of the Galactic grunt's pokemon, I'd have stopped her.

Professor Rowan had Alex, Steph, and myself stationed at each of the three lakes here in Sinnoh. Alex at Lake Acuity, Steph at lake Valor, and myself at Lake Verity. The others had similar defeats, and the other two Galactic commanders, Jupiter and Saturn, got away with Uxie and Azelf. We all ended up at the pokemon centers in the nearby towns, to heal our pokemon. About two hours ago, I got a video call from professor Rowan on my poke gear.

"Joe," he forced out, his voice thick with worry, "Team Galactic has all three members of the Lake Trio. I've gotten word from our spy inside Galactic that their leader, Cyrus, is indeed on his way to Mt. Coronet. His helicopter just took off from their base in Eterna City. They'll be there within an hour. Joe, I need you to head straight there, immediately."

I nodded. "Of course, professor. Nurse Joy is almost done healing my pokemon. Once they're ready, we'll get going. What about the others?"

"I've already spoken with Alex and Steph, and they're on their way there now. Our spy was able to conceal a homing beacon on his uniform. I'm sending you the frequency and a digital map of where he is right now."

My poke gear emitted a couple of quick beeps. A small envelope appeared on the screen in the bottom left-hand corner, indicating I had a new message. I checked it, and it showed a digital map of Sinnoh, automatically zooming in on the homing beacon from the spy, marked by a red dot. The dot was about three miles outside of Eterna city, and making quick distance from there to Mt. Coronet.

I got out of the map and back to professor Rowan's call. "Thanks professor, I'll be on my way in a little bit, don't worry!"

He nodded, and cut the video out. I'd never been involved in something this big before. I didn't even understand the complete range of implications of Cyrus' plan. Hell, I didn't even know exactly what his plan was, I just knew that it was up to us to save the Lake Trio and stop him, whatever his plans were. Once my pokemon were healed up, I hopped on Flygon's back and we sped off for Mt. Coronet.

_Alex_

I could tell that Charizard was extremely uncomfortable flying in such cold. That's why I didn't use her when I battled Jupiter. Now that I think about it, I probably should've used her against that damn Bronzong. Blaziken almost had it beaten down, but all it took was one psybeam to put him out.

I was almost at Mt. Coronet now. After the call from professor Rowan, I hopped on Charizard and we sped towards the mountain. From what he told me a few minutes ago when he called again, Joe and Steph were already on their way. I knew Steph didn't have any pokemon that could fly, so I called Frank, who was nearby, and asked him to go pick her up. Ever since our adventure in Hoenn, Frank decided to become a full-time bird pokemon trainer. He's even got his own section of forest that he claimed, and he uses it to raise and train bird pokemon.

From up in the sky, Sinnoh, and especially the northern, snow-covered areas, was amazingly beautiful. I could see out for miles. And after about two hours, I was nearly to Mt. Coronet. The mountain range that housed it stretched from north to south, all the way to the very southern tip of Sinnoh. The mountains were capped with brilliantly white snow. But this was no pleasure flight. I had to rescue Uxie, and the rest of the Lake Guardians. I'd let Jupiter get away last time, but not now. After I'd healed my pokemon, I promised myself that I'd get her back for hurting Uxie.

Finally, I reached Mt. Coronet. It stood tall above ever other mountain in the range. It was so high, actually, that the very tip of it was above the clouds. I would head straight up there to check things out, but I didn't want to risk Charizard's health. Before landing, I did a quick pass over the mountain, to see if anyone was there yet. Sure enough, I saw about a dozen Galactic grunts outside the entrance to what looked like a cave on a steep cliff. Hoping they hadn't seen me, I doubled back and landed Charizard on a nearby cliff. We would wait until the others got here, then make our way around the side of the mountain and hit them hard. Just after I put Charizard back into her ball, I heard a voice come out from behind me.

It had a hard, yet caring sound to it. "I see you're the first one here. You'd better call the others and let them know where to meet up."

I turned around, and there stood a tall woman with waist-length blonde hair. She had black pants, a black blouse with fur around the cuffs, a long black coat with fur at the bottom, and black hair bands above her ears that reminded me of Joe's Lucario's aura sensor, but with Umbreon's golden bands. I immediately recognized her.

"Cynthia!" I cried out, and ran over to give the Sinnoh league elite four champion a running hug. She wrapped her arms around me and laughed quietly. "Oh man, I haven't seen you since Celestic town! What are you doing here?"

She put me down, then replied with a stern face "Alex, you know why I'm here. You didn't think that professor Rowan would give you three the task of saving the world and rescuing the Lake Guardians, and not have someone to help you out, did you?" She smiled, then continued "Besides, after Galactic's raid on Celestic town, my hometown, I've dedicated every resource available to finding and stopping them. Myself, along with a few of the gym leaders here in Sinnoh, have been working around the clock to rooting out Team Galactic and stopping their operations in Eterna city and Pastoria city."

Shocked, I replied "Wow, that's amazing, Cynthia." Remembering that Joe and Steph still didn't know where to meet up, I took out my poke gear. "Oh, I need to call the others to let them know to meet up here."

I took out my poke gear and set up a three-way call with Joe and Steph. Video of their faces came up side by side on my screen. "Joe, Steph, I'm here at Mt. Coronet with Cynthia. I've found a great place for us to meet up. I'm sending you guys the coordinates, get here as soon as possible!"

Joe nodded. "Okay, wait there for us, Alex. Have you found out where Galactic is meeting?"

I nodded. "Yeah, they're just on the other side of the mountain. I was thinking we could meet up here, then fly around the side and attack from the air."

Steph nodded, then said "Sounds great. Frank and I are about an hour out, we'll be there soon."

"Yeah, I'm about forty-five minutes from where you are, Alex," said Joe. "Tell Cynthia I said hi, okay?"

Cynthia came over, smiling, and said "Hello, Joe, long time no see. Hurry up and get over here."

Joe nodded, then his video cut out, followed shortly by Steph's. Now all that was left was to wait for them.

_Steph_

Flying on Fearow's back was one of the most terrifying (and fun) things that I'd ever done in my life. When Frank showed up at Lake Valor and told me to get on Fearow, I was afraid that I'd break the damn bird's neck, its so thin! Fearow, however, was a lot stronger than I'd expected, and was even more powerful in flight. Frank, who was riding on Pidgeot, told me to just relax and let Fearow take care of everything, and he was right to do so. The two of us were making record time: we'd only been in flight for an hour and a half, and we were already halfway to Mt. Coronet!

The thrill of the flight, however, still wasn't enough to cover the guilt I felt about what had just happened at Lake Valor. For one, I let Team Galactic get away with Azelf. Two, I'd been defeated by Saturn. As much as I hated to admit it, he'd gotten stronger. When I battled him the first time at the Valley Windworks, I put his pokemon down with little effort. This time, however, it was like he was a completely different trainer than before. His Toxicroak was able to take down Marowak and Snover, not to mention that he beat Steelix down with little effort! What surprised me the most, though, was that he was able to put up one hell of a fight against Swampert, which even Drake, a member of the elite four back in Hoenn, had a tough time doing!

After the call from Alex showing us where to land, Frank and I put up more speed in order to get there faster. Even with the extra boost of speed, however, we still got there after Joe did. Frank put Pidgeot and Fearow into their poke balls, and we all gathered in a circle. Cynthia started talking.

"Okay everyone," she said with a definite purpose in her voice, "here's the plan. We're going to get around the side of the mountain to where Team Galactic is stationed. Steph, about ten minutes before you got here, Cyrus' helicopter landed. His commanders are with him, too. They're all standing outside of a large, metal door. I put a listening device on Togekiss and she got close enough to them to hear what was going on. Apparently, they're waiting for their head scientist, Charon, to arrive from their HQ in Veilstone city. We've got about thirty minutes until he gets here, so they're making their final preparations to get in, although I don't know how."

Joe spoke next. "So here's what we're going to do. Once he arrives, we're going to make our assault." He pulled a map of the area out from his backpack. "I was able to make this from video that we shot with a camera we also attached to Togekiss." On the map was the outline of the cliff, along with where the doorway was, and the positions of the helicopter and each of the grunts. He pointed to the helicopter. "From what we can tell, Cyrus and the commanders are in the helicopter. Each of the grunts are spread out in four-person groups in key watch-points around the entrance, most likely keeping a lookout in case anyone else shows up."

Frank leaned in over the map to get a better look. "So whats the plan, Joe?"

"The plan," he replied, "is this. Frank, you and Cynthia are going to go in there and keep the guards distracted. While you're battling them, we'll hit the commanders and Cyrus. Cynthia also told us that she's got Candice from the Snowpoint gym and Crasher Wake from the Pastoria gym on their way up. Hopefully, they'll be here before Charon arrives. From then on, they'll keep the commanders distracted while the three of us take Cyrus into custody. Professor Rowan's spy is a member of the world police, codenamed Looker. While we're battling with the commanders, he'll be-"

BOOOOM! CRASH!

The three of us looked up. "What the hell was that!" I shouted.

Cynthia's poke gear started beeping. She checked her message. It was a recording from Looker, Rowan's spy. He'd obviously been beaten. He had a nasty purple bruise around his left eye, and his bottom lip and nose were slowly oozing out blood. She hit play while we all listened in.

"Cynthia," he said, "it was a deception. They know you're out there. Cyrus saw Togekiss and put out false information. They just used the Galactic bomb to blow open the entrance, and Cyrus is already in the cave. He's going to try to summon Dia-"

He got cut off, and the camera switched view to the right. There was the three Galactic commanders: Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Saturn spoke first. "You really should try to be more wary next time. You're standing about one hundred feet below one of our guard posts. We've known you were there since the short girl landed."

Next was Mars. "Even if you wanted to, you'd never be able to stop us now. Master Cyrus is on his way to Spear Pillar. He's going to use the red chain that we made from the crystals of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf to summon and capture Dialga and Palkia. When he does, he's going to use their powers to create a new world, just for Team Galactic!"

Finally, Jupiter spoke. "I suggest you just turn yourselves in now, and save us the trouble of coming out there and wasting our energy to capture you." Once she was done, the video cut out.

_Joe_

I clenched my fists into balls. They were one step ahead of us, just like always. Suddenly, it hit me. I turned to the others. "We can still do this."

Alex looked at me in confusion. "Do what, Joe? I screwed it up. I wasn't careful enough to check for anyone here, and now we're done for."

I shook my head. "No way, this isn't over. Our plan may have been ruined, but we can still get them if we hurry! We'll go with the original plan, but we'll just have to do it a lot quicker! We need to go now. Once we beat the commanders, Cynthia and I will hurry up to Spear Pillar and stop Cyrus. Are you guys in?"

I looked around at everyone. They all nodded their heads. "Okay, lets go. Steph, you can ride on Flygon with me. Cynthia, you take Fearow. Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah!" shouted the whole group in unison.

"Lets do this."

We shot off on our pokemon: I was in front with Steph on Flygon, Alex followed behind me on Charizard, and Cynthia and Frank came up last on Fearow and Pidgeot. Frank had let out his other two pokemon, Staraptor and Skarmory.

When we rounded the mountain to where Team Galactic was waiting, we were met by at least thirty Golbat and Crobat. They fluttered their wings, and swarmed us en masse. Frank gave orders to Skarmory and Staraptor to attack. I saw for Golbat heading straight for me.

"Flygon, dragon pulse!"

Flygon opened up her mouth and charged up a ball of purple energy. The ball exploded, and sent a thin beam towards the Golbat. When it was within five feet of them, the beam blew up and emitted a huge shockwave, striking each of them and sending them falling to the top of the cliff.

I saw a few Crobat flying at Alex. She saw them too, and shouted "Charizard, fire spin!"

Charizard roared and opened up his jaws. A thin stream of fire began to spiral from his mouth, tight at first, but then opening up as it got closer to the Crobat. It struck them hard, and they fell just like the other Golbat.

While we were flying around, taking down pokemon after pokemon, a thick purple beam of energy shot up right in front of Flygon. She pulled up and circled around it just in time. I looked down at the ground, and saw commander Mars. Next to her was her Bronzong. One more look at the helicopter, and I saw the other two commanders, Jupiter and Saturn, having their pokemon launch attacks at Steph and Alex up in the air.

"Joe!" shouted Cynthia from Fearow's back. "You three get down there and take out the commanders! Frank will handle things in the air, and I'll land and help keep the grunts off your backs!"

Alex, Steph and I nodded to her, and began to make our descent. I looked down at Mars once more, and decided to start out battle early.

"Flygon, go into a dive and hit Bronzong with dragon claw!"

"Gon, Fly-Gon!"

I wrapped my legs and arms tightly around Flygon as she went into a steep dive at Mars and her Bronzong. Suddenly, Bronzong's eyes flashed a bright gold, and it shot a yellow beam at Flygon.

"Crap, confuse ray!"

The beam struck her, and instead of following through with the attack I'd ordered her to use, she hit with aerial ace, which hardly did any damage at all. When Flygon got her footing on the ground about fifteen feet away from Mars, I jumped off.

Mars smiled at me, then laughed. "So, I guess this means you guys are going to put up a fight? Oh, sorry, I forgot that you have the battling skills of a ten-year-old." She looked me up and down, then touched her right index finger to her lips. "Although, I've got to admit, you're a cute one. If you were a bit better of a battler, I might be tempted to flirt with you."

Never the one to back down from a banter contest, I shot back quickly. "You know Mars, you're pretty cute yourself. If you weren't so evil, and trying to destroy the world, I might be tempted to ask you on a date." I looked her up and down too. I had to admit, that skin-tight dress and knee-high boots were definite turn-ons. She wasn't bad looking in the face, either.

She winked, and laughed. "Maybe under different circumstances, dear. Sorry, but I've got to put you down, here and now." Mars took out another poke ball, bringing out her Purugly. "Double battle, right here."

I looked at Flygon. She'd fallen to the ground in confusion. She was in no condition to battle, so I put her back into her ball. I took out two other poke balls. "Lucario, Bastiodon, lets go!"

Lucario was my main fighter. He'd have no trouble with Purugly. He stood just a foot shorter than me, but he was tougher than I would ever be. He had black fur on his paws, legs from the knee down, and length and width-wise on his head. From the knees up, around his ears, and on most of his arms and tail, the fur was blue. The majority of his body fur was yellow, but with a black line across the bottom. He also had a spike sticking out of his chest, and on both of his hands. Slender and fast, he was like my fighter jet.

Bastiodon, however, was more of a tank than a fighter. He stood just barely taller than Lucario, but much bigger, and on all four legs. His head looked like a giant, squared, iron shield. His eyes rested at the very bottom, near his mouth, with two bone-like spikes pointing out at the sides just above his eyes. Above those were four yellow half-circles that gave the illusion of extra eyes. The rest of his body was made of yellow and dark-gray skin, with a ridge at the middle on the top, bone-like spikes coming up from that, too.

One look at Bastiodon, and Mars put her hand over her mouth and chuckled. "Wow, that's a big pokemon you've got there. Are you sure you're not trying to compensate for something small with a big pokemon?"

"Oh, trust me babe," I retorted, "I don't need to compensate for anything. In fact, I'm pretty sure that you'd be surprised at how much I don't need to. Thirty minutes with me, and you'll be addicted."

Mars laughed at this. "Oh, hon, you wouldn't be able to handle this," she motioned her hands down, then up her body, "for five minutes, let alone thirty. Besides, we're not here to talk about who's better at that. Purugly, shadow ball! Bronzong, psybeam!"

"Bastiodon, get in front of Lucario and use protect! Lucario, once the attacks are done, use agility to get up near Purugly and then use close combat!"

Bastiodon moved with haste to get in front of Lucario, and positioned his shield-like head at an angle. When the attacks hit, Bastiodon just absorbed the hits like nothing. After they subsided, Lucario ducked around Bastiodon and dashed towards Purugly so fast, he was nearly a blur. Mars cried out for her to dodge, but wasn't fast enough. Lucario got right up in her face, grabbed her and tossed her in the air, and did a jumping spin-kick that sent her flying into the side of the nearby chopper. Purugly struck the metal, and created a deep dent in it, bounced off, and fell onto the snow underneath.

From behind, however, Bronzong hit Lucario with a psybeam, knocking him to the ground. Purugly was able to get up to her feet. Mars shouted "Purugly, take down on Bastiodon, go!"

"Bastiodon, use metal burst!"

When Purugly got steady footing, she began to charge towards Bastiodon. He took two steps forward, then stopped and tucked his head down. His great shield of a head began to glow a faint silver. When Purugly struck, there was a loud bang and a bright, near-blinding flash of light. Bastiodon had used Purugly's own attack against her, knocking her back ten feet.

I looked over at where Lucario was. He was struggling to get up on his own power. "Lucario, get up you can do it! Hit Bronzong with blaze kick!"

Lucario jumped to his feet, turned around, and began to charge at Bronzong. Bronzong just hovered there, while Mars shouted "Bronzong, use mirror coat!"

Bronzong began to emit a faint purplish glow, and was suddenly enveloped in a thin, purple coating. Lucario kept up his speed, and when he was within range, he jumped up and spun around, dragging his leg and producing flames around it. Finally, the kick connected with Bronzong, and hit it so hard that it went flying into a nearby rock that stuck out of the ground, shattering the rock and heavily damaging Bronzong.

Mars cried out in shock as her Bronzong was now incapacitated. "Nooooo! How did this happen! Mirror coat should have stopped Lucario in his tracks!"

I laughed, then answered her questions. " Mirror coat only works for special attacks, babe. Blaze kick may be a fire-type move, but it's a full-contact move! Maybe you should've paid more attention in Team Galactic brainwashing school!"

Purugly began to get up to her feet.

"Lucario, pick up Purugly and use seismic toss to throw her at Bastiodon! Bastiodon, use metal burst to send Purugly flying!"

Lucario nodded. He dashed over to Purugly, and before she could get off an attack, he grabbed her around her wide body and began to spin around and around in circles. It was slow at first, but began to pick up speed little by little. Finally, he let go and sent her flying at Bastiodon, who was waiting with his head tucked down and glowing silver. Purugly struck dead-center, and was sent flying towards Mars.

"NO!" she cried out, as Purugly flew through the air at her. Before she could get out of the way, Purugly struck Mars in the stomach, and the two of them went sliding through the snow.

"Haha, alright guys, good work!" Lucario and Bastiodon made their way to where I was. I patted both of them on their heads, and fed them each a poffin of their favorite flavor. "Good work you two, get a good rest, okay?" When they were finished, I put them into their poke balls.

I was about to go help out the others, but I glanced over at Mars, cuddled up in a ball, unconscious with her Purugly next to her. I ran over to them, and took out a piece of paper. After writing my poke gear phone number, name, and "call me" on a piece of paper and putting it in her pocket, I laughed. "Maybe after this is over," I said, "you and me can _really _see who's compensating or not."

I looked up at the sky, and saw Frank's pokemon more than holding their own against the swarm of Golbat and Crobat. Alex was in a heated fight with Jupiter. Steph had left Saturn knocked out cold against a rock, and was now helping Cynthia fight the grunts on the ground. I took out a poke ball and called out Umbreon.

Once she was out, the two of us took off running into the cave, after Cyrus. We were going to stop him, no matter what.


	2. Spear Pillar

_Steph_

Joe put me down when he and Flygon landed near Mars. I could see Alex dismounting Charizard and approaching Jupiter, so I made my way towards Saturn. He didn't look surprised to see me. Instead, he stood still, arms folded, with a huge grin on his face. I can't explain why, but for some reason I think that Saturn is the most level-headed of the three. He always keeps his cool in moments of high emotion or stress. He took a poke ball off of his belt and enlarged it.

"So," he said, evenly, "are you here for your rematch? It won't be much of a match, really. Toxicroak will defeat all of your pokemon effortlessly, just like he did at Lake Verity."

I took out Marowak's ball. I would've used Swampert, but he was still hurt from earlier. Nurse Joy said not to use him in battle anytime soon. "Go, Marowak!"

Marowak came out from her ball. She was a lot smaller than me, only about three feet high. Most of her body was a dark brown, except for her light brown front. On her head was a skull helmet, which had been there even when she was just a Cubone. Unlike most pokemon, she carried a bone in her right hand, which she used as a weapon, and for some attacks.

"Okay Saturn," I called. "We both use one pokemon each. You may have beaten us last time, but this time I'm going to make you regret that you took Azelf!"

Saturn let out a quick chuckle, then brought out Toxicroak from his ball. "You want to get your revenge? Take your shot."

I balled my hand up into a fist. "Marowak, bone rush!"

"Maro!"

Marowak dashed towards Toxicroak with its bone raised high in the air.

"Toxicroak, sucker punch!"

Just inches away, Marowak was suddenly struck in the gut by Toxicroak's fist. While Marowak was doubled over, he struck her with a nasty poison jab in an uppercut fashion, sending her up into the air. He then jumped up and fired a focus blast, sending her flying at me. I jumped up into the air to catch her, and we landed with her in my arms.

Saturn put his hands on his hips and started laughing. "Good try, but not good enough. Why they chose you to protect Azelf, I'll never know. Now if you'll excuse us, I have important business to attend to. Creating a new world isn't easy, and I must be going to help our leader."

Saturn and Toxicroak turned around and began walking away. I sat up and held Marowak in my arms. She opened up her eyes, then jumped out of my arms and onto her feet. She started crying out and pointing after Saturn and Toxicroak, pounding her bone into her hand. She wanted to finish the job.

"Okay Marowak," I said with a smile on my face, "lets get 'em! Bonemerang, go!"

Marowak lifted its bone up in the air, and started aiming at Toxicroak, finally throwing it. The bone flew threw the air, spinning rapidly. It struck Toxicroak directly on the back of the head, bouncing off and flying up at a higher angle. Shocked, the two turned around and faced us again, Toxicroak rubbing the back of his head.

"We're not done yet, Saturn!"

Saturn's face had an expression of utter disgust. "I see you're a stubborn one. No matter, we'll finish this quickly and be on our way. Toxicroak, poison jab!"

Toxicroak's right hand began to glow a bright purple. As he charged forward, full speed, the bone came back, striking him again on the back of his head. This caused him to trip up, and begin rolling across the ground. Marowak caught the bone, and held it up in the air.

"Okay Marowak, finish it with skull bash!"

Marowak tucked her head down, and began to charge downrange at Toxicroak, who was beginning to get up to his knees. Before he even saw it coming, Marowak smashed her skull-helmet into him, sending him flying straight into Saturn, striking him on the head and knocking them both out cold.

"Great work, Marowak!" I shouted as she jumped up and down in excitement. I looked over towards Cynthia, who was battling four Galactic grunts at once with her Togekiss and Garchomp. I had no doubts that she could take them all, but I saw more coming towards her, so I decided to go help out.

"Come on, Marowak, lets go help Cynthia now!"

"Wak! Maro-Wak!"

_Alex_

As I tried to land Charizard near Jupiter, her Skuntank started launching sludge bomb attacks at us. We were able to dodge most of them, but a particularly large one struck Charizard on her right wing, sending us in a spiral down to the ground. Just before we crashed, she was able to regain control and pull up, allowing her time to land herself properly. Just mere seconds after I jumped off, she got hit with another sludge bomb, this time right in her face. It was strong enough to knock her onto her back.

"Jupiter!" I shouted. "What the hell is your problem!"

Jupiter laughed heartily. "Its called strategy, kid. If I can take out your powerhouse pokemon, you won't be able to get past me. Sorry, but you're gonna have to use something else if you want to even try to stop Cyrus, which you won't even be able to do anyways, so if I were you I'd just give up and quit now, before we have to take you down ourselves."

I took out a poke ball and tossed it, bringing out my Blaziken. He was tall, very tall. Instead of fur, like most pokemon, he was covered in feathers, just like the Torchic which I'd caught him as. The feathers went from yellow at the feet, just below the knee, to mostly red up to the midsection, and the arms. Whitish-brown feathers that looked like hair draped from his head down to his chest, where they got smaller and wrapped around his underarms to his back.

"Blaziken, use fire punch!"

"Skuntank, dodge and use sludge bomb!"

Blaziken charged at Skuntank, right fist cocked back, flames bursting out around the wrist and engulfing his entire hand. When he was in striking range, he swung the blazing fist at Skuntank, but she dodged and got behind him, where she fired a thick glob of poisonous sludge, striking him in the back. Blaziken was knocked to his knees. Skuntank dashed at him to use double edge, but Blaziken countered and kicked Skuntank up into the air. He followed up by leaping and using sky uppercut, sending Skuntank higher into the air. Finally, Blaziken rose even higher and used blaze kick to send Skuntank rocketing back down to earth. She crashed onto a group of large boulders that were piled up against the mountainside, smashing each and every one of them and sending bits of rock and snow everywhere. It was that same combo that won me the gym battle against Maylene at the Veilstone gym. Blaziken came down and landed in a crouch ten feet away from me. He stood up and stretched his arms out to his sides, looked up into the air, and simultaneously let out a roar and a flamethrower into the air.

Jupiter, who was in complete shock, ran over to where Skuntank was lying, unconscious. "Skuntank, get up! Get up now! We need to teach this kid a lesson! We need to show her what happens when you get in the way of Team Galactic!"

I started laughing. "Face facts, Jupiter. You're not as good as you thought you were.

Jupiter stood up, shaking with rage. "Not as good as I thought I was! Oh, you little whore! I'll show you good, I'll show you real power!" She took out another poke ball. "Gallade, shut this kid up, and beat her Blaziken down! Psycho cut, now!"

Out of the ball came a tall, slender pokemon. I could tell that it was an evolved form of Ralts. It looked a lot like Joe's Gardevoir, and had some of the traits of a Ralts and a Kirlia. There were some differences, however. For one, it had visible legs. Two long, white legs extended from a round, white waist area. From the top of the waist up, it was completely green, except for the red fins that protruded from his chest and back. At the elbows, his arms turned a darker green, and extended out in a spike-like shape that came out from behind the elbow. There was also a large, green fin sticking up from the back of his head.

Gallade's right arm-blade began to glow a bright purple, and he started to run towards Blaziken. Before I could tell Blaziken to move, he struck with the blade, sending Blaziken flying back. He was able to get up from the hit, but he was bleeding a little bit around his midsection.

"Blaziken, are you okay?" I asked, my voice laced with worry.

"Blaze!" The tufts of fur around his wrists became engulfed in flames that blazed furiously. Blaziken wanted more.

"Okay Blaziken, get in there and use jump kick!"

Blaziken let go of the cut on his midsection and began to run towards Gallade. About ten feet out, he jumped up into the air and spun around, tucking his left leg in and extending his right leg, swinging it around for the kick. Gallade, however, used protect, and Blaziken's leg came into contact with the purple bubble around Gallade, instead of finding its intended target. Blaziken, clearly angered by this, put the flames around his wrists on full blast and began to launch multiple fire punches at Gallade. Each time, however, the attacks came into contact with the bubble, and never found their target. After a minute of this, Blaziken was noticeable tired, and Jupiter saw this.

"Gallade, close combat, go!"

Gallade put down the bubble around himself. He grabbed Blaziken by the arm, and pulled him in for a powerful punch straight to the face. Blaziken fell to the ground, and when he tried to get up, Gallade used close combat again, this time lifting him up and delivering a vicious kick to the midsection, sending Blaziken flying back at least fifteen feet. The kick must have struck exactly where the gash was, because when Blaziken got up to his knees, blood was dripping down and painting the snow a brilliant red color. The sight of it drove me to tears

"Blaziken!" I cried out. "Blaziken, are you okay!" I ran over to where he was, down on one knee, tears streaming down my face, one hand gripping my shirt over my chest. When I got within five feet of him, he held his hand out, motioning for me to stop.

"Huh?" I gasped through the tears. Blaziken put one hand on the ground, and used the leverage to get up from his knees into a crouch, working his way up until he stood upright, one hand over the long cut. When he was standing straight up, he jabbed both arms out to the sides, and let out that roar/flamethrower like he did earlier. The mere sight of this caused a look of total shock on Jupiter's face. Even Gallade seemed surprised at this. Hell, I was surprised. Seeing Blaziken stand through the pain caused my tears to stop trickling down, and I smiled.

"Are you ready to finish this, Blaziken?"

"BLAAAAAAAAAZE!" he roared out, wrist flames erupting and flashing voraciously.

"Grrr," growled Jupiter. "You just don't know when to quit, do you? Just as well, I love completely obliterating little jerks like you. Gallade, get in there and use X-scissor!"

Gallade's arm-blades began to glow bright green, and he started to dash towards Blaziken with both of them dragging back. Blaziken took a firm, rooted stance, with his right leg back, left leg and both arms forward.

"Blaziken, use reversal!"

When Gallade jumped and brought both blades up into an X-shape, Blaziken ducked, his head barely getting under the blades. While Gallade was up in the air, Blaziken wrapped his arm around Gallade's belly, causing him to let out a sharp gasp, and began to spin around in a circle, finally tossing Gallade up into the air, breathless. While Gallade was up in the air, Blaziken charged up his wrist flames, and pointed them at Gallade. Simultaneously, an orange ball of flame began to build up in his open mouth.

"Blaziken, blast burn!"

From his mouth, he let fly a thick stream of flames. From his wrists, he fired two more jets of flame. These two began to spiral around the first one. The three torrents of fire struck Gallade, causing a brilliant explosion of flames at thirty feet in the air. The blast sent Gallade straight down onto the snow. He landed with a loud thump, sending tufts of snow up into the air. As he got up, Blaziken began stomping his leg against the ground. He wanted to finish it.

"Okay Blaziken, finish it with giga impact!"

"BLAAAAAAAZE!"

Blaziken began a mad dash towards Gallade, who was beginning to get up off his hands and knees. Just as Gallade got up to his feet, as he was trying to regain his balance, Blaziken jumped into the air. He whipped to the left, so that his body was sideways. As he lifted his kicking leg, it began to let out a bright beige and yellow wave of energy behind it. He brought his kick down on Gallade, causing another enormous explosion, and sending even more snow up into the air. Blaziken jumped over to where I was, and stood by my side, roaring and blasting up flamethrowers in victory. Gallade was laid out flat on the ground, arms and legs out straight. He shuddered a few times, and made small movements to get up, but he couldn't. Jupiter, thoroughly distraught over her loss, knelt down by his side, speechless. She put him back into his ball, and brought her hands to her face, erupting in tears and sobs.

I could tell she was done. There was no fight left in her. I looked around at the others. Cynthia, Frank, and Steph had defeated most of the Galactic grunts that were here, sending them running down the cave that led to the bottom of the mountain. I thought we had won, but then I heard the thumping of helicopter rotor blades. Completely doubting myself, hoping I was wrong, I looked out to the cliff side, and my fears were confirmed. There, landing right on the cliff's edge, was huge helicopter. Coming out of the doors on the side of it were at least two dozen Team Galactic elites. I could tell because they were wearing black and purple uniforms instead of the traditional black and white.

They started jumping out of the helicopter, landing three feet below on the snow, poke balls in hand. Suddenly, from my left-hand side, I saw a bright blue beam of energy shoot past me and hit the helicopter right on its top rotor, freezing the blades in place. The helicopter started to fall, slowly at first, then faster. There were still at least eight Galactic elites on the helicopter when it tipped over on its side and dropped off the side of the mountain. I turned around, and I saw Candice, the leader of the Snowpoint gym, with her Froslass and Glaceon out. Just behind her was the big, buff, wrestler known as Crasher Wake, the leader of the Pastoria gym, with his Floatzel and Poliwrath right behind him.

"Hey, you guys started the party without us!" cried out Candice in her high, cheery voice. "I hope we're not too late to help out!"

"Rrrraahahaha!" laughed Crasher. "Alex, how are you, its been awhile! Do you need some help with these guys!"

Laughing, I nodded. "Yeah. Cynthia, Frank, and Steph have the others covered. Come help me with them, my pokemon are hurt."

Candice and Crasher came over to my side, their pokemon in front of them. I called back Blaziken to rest, and sent out Manectric and Luxray. The Elites stood twenty feet away from us, in an almost perfect line, and they brought out a mix of Toxicroak, Weavile, and Zangoose.

"Manectric, Luxray, thunderbolt!"

_Joe_

The cave was, for the most part, lit up. There were crystals jutting out from the ceiling of the long tunnel, giving of blue and pink-colored lighting. Umbreon and I ran for about five minutes through the part that went slanted up, then another five minutes up a spiraling staircase that seemed like it had been there for centuries. Finally, we came to a doorway that had carvings of a large triangle on it, with a circle in the middle. After a bit of a push, the doorway opened, and I was back outside.

Instead of being in a large snowfield, or on the side of a cliff, it seemed like we were in a large ruin, with pillars protruding up from the ground in two rows, with a cobblestone path leading up another large set of stairs. Umbreon and I darted up the stairs. At the top, we found Cyrus, standing in the middle of a large circle that was carved into the floor. We were high enough above the clouds that we could see the moon shining down on us. Umbreon's bands began to glow a violent, pulsating golden color. The lustrous and adamant orbs were hovering above the ground in front of Cyrus. The three Lake Guardians were here, too. They were positioned at the edge of the circle so that they made a triangle shape, with Cyrus and the orbs in the middle.

Without turning to me, he began to speak. "You're too late. I've already summoned them. They'll be here soon, and when they arrive, I will have them create my world. A world without spirit, or emotion. Without the things that plague humankind, and make us weak and pitiful. A world only for me, nobody else."

"But what about Team Galactic?" I asked. "What about your people? Aren't you going to take them with you? Isn't that what they've been working towards, or has their unnecessary evil been all for your vanity project?"

Without feeling behind his words, he turned to me and said "This is no vanity project, child, believe me. You've dealt with them. You've been around them. They are fools, even the commanders. They let their emotions and feelings drive them, control what they do and say. They are weak-minded beings, just like you, coming to save these pokemon and the world, for what? What binds you to them, other than your emotions and feelings? Nothing at all." He turned around so that his back was to me again. "You are nothing but a foolish, emotional child. You will never understand what I am doing, what I am about to do. Your world will be destroyed, and my world will be created from the ashes, by Dialga and Palkia."

I shook my head, and Umbreon took a defensive stance. "You're the fool, Cyrus. Do you think that I'm just going to stand here and let you do that? No way!"

Cyrus shook his head, turned around, and took out a poke ball. "Fine, have it your way. All you'll get is a lesson in what I believe. You cannot win, child. Crobat, come out, now."

Cyrus' Crobat fluttered its four purple wings, gaining its balance up in the air. I didn't want to use Umbreon just yet. I'd use her last. Instead, I took out another ball and tossed it.

"Scizor, come on out!"

"Sci-ZOR!"

"Scizor, razor wind, go!"

"Crobat, dodge and use wing attack."

Scizor jumped up in the air and kicked his wings up so that he hovered a couple feet above the ground. From his wings, he began to launch razor-thin blades of air at Crobat. He dodged, then sped towards Scizor, striking with his rapidly-beating wings. The move didn't really damage Scizor, since he was half steel-type, but since he's also half bug-type, it wasn't completely ineffective either. Scizor began to give chase, flying around, following Crobat and launching bright silver balls of energy at him, his flash cannon attack. However, each attack missed. Finally, Crobat turned around, and when he tried to launch an attack, he was struck head-on with a flash cannon. Scizor followed up that attack with X-scissor, effectively knocking Crobat senseless, and falling to the ground.

Unfazed, Cyrus put Crobat back into his ball and took out another. "Weavile, go."

Out from the next ball came a short, purple and red-colored cat-like pokemon. Its body was a dark shade of purple, but it also had red fur on its tail, ears, neck, and on the top of its head. It looked almost exactly like the Sneasel I caught back in Johto, but stronger somehow.

"Weavile, ice punch."

"Scizor, dodge and use metal claw!"

Weavile dashed at Scizor, and struck before he could dodge. I'd never seen any pokemon move so quickly, not even Lucario, and he was definitely my fastest pokemon. Weavile's claw seemed to glow a bright blue color, and when it made contact with Scizor's, a small area of his abdomen froze over. He tried to move, but the ice was slowly spreading, freezing his entire lower body, and working its way down to his legs. While Scizor was trying to get free of the ice, Weavile was preparing his next attack. One of his claws began to take on a jet black color, and a purple mist began to swirl around it.

"Weavile, night slash."

He sped towards Scizor, who was still attempting to free himself. Weavile jumped into the air, let out a wild scream, and struck Scizor sideways with his claw, leaving a dark trail of energy behind his angle of attack. The attack was so powerful that it shattered the ice and sent Scizor flying back. He crashed into one of the pillars, bringing it crashing down around him. He tried to get up, but Weavile used ice beam, freezing him to the ground.

I took out his poke ball. "Grr, Scizor, come back! You did great, take a rest." I grabbed another ball. "You want to use dark types? I'll give you a dark type, Cyrus. Houndoom, GO!"

Out came Houndoom, the third pokemon I ever caught. He'd been with me since Hoenn, where I evolved him from a Houndour. Even years after he'd evolved, he was still the same Houndoom he was back then. The second he came out of the ball and his feet touched the floor, he let out a tremendous "RRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRR!" Weavile, as powerful a pokemon as it was, still wasn't able to resist the fear that struck pokemon when Houndoom roared: he shuddered, and took a step back, wide-eyed.

"Houndoom, get in there and use fire fang!"

Houndoom rocked back on his heels, then rocketed forward, flames trailing out of his mouth. When he was within a few feet of Weavile, he jumped and opened his jaws wide, revealing the flames he'd built up, and prepared to chomp down on. Weavile, at the very last second, dodged the attack, and with fear in his eyes, he tried to catch his breath. Houndoom, not in the least pleased by this, turned his head to Weavile, growling. He opened up his mouth again, and released a jet of fire, completely enveloping Weavile within a matter of seconds. When Houndoom stopped the blaze, Weavile was left shuddering on the ground.

Cyrus took called Weavile back to his poke ball. With still no emotion, or expression on his face, he grabbed yet another poke ball and tossed it out. "Absol, go."

From the ball came another cat-like pokemon, Absol. She stood on all fours, like Houndoom, and looked just as strong. Her body was almost completely covered in thick, white fur. Her face and tail were both a dark blue color. There was a sickle-shaped blade coming out of the right side of her head, sticking out, then trailing back and curving behind her head.

"Absol, use night slash, now."

"Houndoom, dodge and use head butt!"

The blade on Absol's head began to emit the same kind of dark mist that Weavile's claw had earlier. Houndoom began to kick his right hind leg back, preparing to charge like a wild Tauros. They both started the attack at the exact same moment. Houndoom's horns and Absol's blade made contact, and the resulting explosion of energy sent both skidding backwards on their feet. Instead of a physical attack again, I ordered Houndoom to use flamethrower. Cyrus, also seeing the futility of a physical confrontation, had Absol use dark pulse. A stream of flames erupted from Houndoom's mouth, and Absol fired a purple and black beam of energy. The two attacks came to a head, causing yet another explosion.

"Absol, use future sight."

Absol created a purple ball of energy, and sent it up into the sky, where it disappeared. Not worrying about it though, I had Houndoom keep up the attack. He launched flamethrower after flamethrower, and Absol kept dodging. Absol fired dark pulse after dark pulse, but Houndoom would simply jump out of the line of fire. I finally decided it was time to end the battle.

"Houndoom, get in there with a fire fang!"

Houndoom dashed towards Absol with flames trailing from his mouth. Absol, however, simply held her ground, standing in the same position. I didn't understand why, but that's when future sight hit. The ball of energy shot down from the sky, striking Houndoom and stopping him in his tracks. He was unfazed by the attack, however, since psychic type moves have no effect on dark type pokemon.

I didn't realize that Absol had no intention of hurting Houndoom with future sight, though. While Houndoom was distracted, Absol rushed in and struck hard with night slash, knocking Houndoom off his feet and flying back. Before he could rise to his feet, Absol launched a dark pulse attack, putting Houndoom back down. He stayed down. I took out his poke ball and called him back.

"Great work, Houndoom. Take a break, you've earned it." Umbreon, who'd been standing beside me, stepped forward.

His face still an emotionless mask, chuckled. "It makes no difference what pokemon you use, I will win. And even then, my victory will have no meaning. My world is on its way. I can feel Dialga and Palkia, they're nearly here. And when they arrive, they will destroy this world, and create a new universe! One for only me. One without spirit, without emotion. My perfect world. Absol, finish this quickly, use dark pulse once more."

"Umbreon, dodge and use shadow ball!"

As Absol fired her blast of energy, Umbreon swiftly dodged and blasted a dark ball back at Absol. She dodged the attack, and fired her own shadow ball back. Umbreon moved to the side, and barely escaped the hit.

"Okay Umbreon, use agility to get in close, then use double edge!"

Umbreon rushed with incredible speed at Absol. She got within a few feet, then jumped up, and flipped forward to strike with her back. Absol, however, countered with slash, knocking Umbreon to the side.

"Umbreon, payback, go!"

As soon as Umbreon landed on her feet, she jumped back up and tackled Absol with incredible power. She was sent flying back, crashing into a pillar and falling to the floor. Absol quickly got up, and went right back at Umbreon with night slash. Umbreon, however, fought back, and used dark pulse, making perfect contact with Absol. Absol simply took the attack, though. It seemed like she was hardly even damaged at all. Her blade struck Umbreon along the side, and created a deep gash which started oozing blood at a slow pace.

"Absol finish this now. Hyper beam, full power."

"Umbreon, watch out!"

Absol started to charge a golden ball of energy in front of her. Umbreon, trying to move despite the intense pain, got up to her feet. Absol let loose the intense blast. A golden beam shot out, straight for Umbreon, who could barely move. It was going to hit her dead-on.

"Umbreon, endure!"

The blast made a direct hit, sending her flying back. When she landed, she couldn't get up to her feet. I knew she was still alright, though. She used endure, meaning that she wasn't completely beaten. Cyrus, however, thought that it was enough.

"Foolish," he said. "Childish, reckless. All you will get by living at the whim of your emotions is defeat. Not that it matters anymore." He turned his back to us and, with Absol at his side, began to walk towards the circle in the center of the ground.

I picked up Umbreon in my arms. She'd been badly injured, the gash on her side was still bleeding.

"Umbreon, please get up…"

She opened her eyes. "Brehh?" After looking up at me, she jumped out of my arms.

"Huh? Umbreon, what are you doing?"

Limping, she started to walk away from me. I started to walk after her, but then I saw her bands begin to violently pulse in and out. She looked up at the moon, and closed her eyes. She began to emit a faint blue light, then a thin beam of energy shot up to the moon. Seconds later, I saw another blue beam come down from the sky. It hit all around Umbreon, enveloping her in a bright blue light.

Cyrus and Absol, intrigued, turned around. What Absol got was a hyper beam straight to the face. She was sent flying back, crashing into a giant stone tablet on the other side of the circle, completely destroying it. Umbreon had been completely healed by the moonlight. Even the slash down her side was healed, and closed up.

"Cyrus!" I shouted. "Its not over yet! I won't let you destroy this world!"

That was when I saw the blue and pink circles opening up in the sky behind him. He smiled, laughed, and said "They're here."


	3. The Aftermath

_Steph_

The Galactic grunts were no problem for Cynthia and I to battle. They mostly only had Golbat and Crobat, so they were fairly easy to defeat. Once we'd finished up the last of them, Cynthia headed inside the cave. I looked over to my left, towards the edge of the cliff, and I saw Alex, Candice, and Crasher Wake battling what looked like a dozen Galactic elites. I put Marowak back into her ball so she could rest, and brought out Snover, my ice and grass-type pokemon.

"Alex," I cried out, "save one for me!"

She turned around, saw me, and laughed. "Sure thing Steph. Lets take these guys down!"

Crasher's Floatzel and Poliwrath were up against two elites, but Crasher still saw fit to welcome me. "STEPH! WROAHAHAHA, how are you, dear! Its been so long since you three were at my gym, I hope your pokemon are still in tip-top shape!" Then, in a sing-song voice, he said "But these guys are _looooosers! _You should have no problem fighting them. Poliwrath, Floatzel, hydro pump, go!"

His pokemon both launched an intensely powerful torrent of water at their opponents, a Toxicroak and a Weavile, knocking them backwards. They were able to get up to their feet, but they looked like they got hit hard. Candice, however, had no problems with her opponents. Froslass and Glaceon were firing ice beams with machine-gun rapidity at their enemies, leaving them too busy with dodging to launch an attack.

"Hey Steph!" shouted Candice in her cheery, high pitched voice. "Long time no see! I hope that Snover is up to battle hard!"

I laughed, then replied "He sure is, Candice!" I found two elites with four pokemon, two Zangoose and two Weavile, fighting Alex's Manectric and Luxray, and decided to get into the battle. "Snover, blast those Zangoose with energy ball!"

Snover charged up a green ball of energy between his hands and launched it at one Zangoose who was about to strike Manectric. He sent out another one to the other Zangoose that was on Luxray's tail, ready to strike with those ultra-powerful claws. Both attacks struck their targets hard, knocking them flat on their backs and stopping them from striking Alex's pokemon.

"Thanks," she said. "We were having a tough time two-on-four, but now with Snover out here, we should be able to take these guys, no problem, right Steph?"

I nodded, then said "Sure thing Alex. Snover, use magical leaf!"

Suddenly, the entire mountain shook, causing all of our pokemon, even Galactic's, to stop attacking.

_Joe_

There were two holes stretching in the sky above us. One was a pinkish-purple, and the other was a light blue color. The two holes suddenly opened up and took on three dimensional forms. The blue one stretched length-wise, and had the appearance of a four-legged animal. The pink one stretched height-wise, and looked a lot like a two-legged dragon, and a long neck and tail. When the forms stopped extending and reached their final shape, they suddenly took on an actual look, Dialga and Palkia, the masters of time and space.

The two great dragon pokemon hovered in the air, in a daze. The look in their eyes was the same as the look in the eyes of Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. They were under Cyrus' control.

"Dialga!" he shouted. "Palkia! Rulers of space and time, you are now under my command, along with the lake guardians. Now, you will use your powers to create a new world for me! A new world, devoid of emotions, and feelings. These are the things that plague our kinds, both humans and pokemon. They are the root of all problems in the world. But you shall create for me a new world. A world in my image. There shall be no spirit, only knowledge. Now, begin my work!"

The two great pokemon let out amazing roars, then began to blast powerful beams of energy from their mouths into one central point, in the middle of the triangle here on Spear Pillar. The beams connected, and at that point a circle began to slowly creep outwards, showing inside the opening into another dimension. Cyrus would destroy our world for this one, kill us all so that he could live. I wasn't about to let that happen. I took out Lucario's poke ball and tossed it out.

"Lucario, use aura sphere! Umbreon, use shadow ball! Try to destroy that portal!"

Lucario put his hands close to each other, about a foot or two apart, and started charging up a blue ball of energy. Likewise, Umbreon started charging a purple and black ball of energy before her eyes. The two of them launched their attacks, which headed straight for the portal.

Cyrus saw this, and stopped it. "Dialga, Palkia, use roar of time and spacial rend!"

The blue gem on Dialga's chest began to glow a bright color. Palkia's gems on its shoulders also began to brightly glow. Dialga blasted a blue beam of energy at aura sphere, and Palkia swung one of its claws, creating a massive pink shockwave, and sending it at shadow ball. The attacks all made contact with each other, exploding and forcing Lucario and Umbreon sliding back a few feet. Dialga and Palkia both roared powerfully, causing the mountain to shake violently.

"Joe, whats going on!" I heard a voice call from behind me. I turned around, and saw Cynthia running up the stairs, her Garchomp and Togekiss flying behind her. She got up to where I was, and I told her Cyrus' plan.

"Oh no," she whispered. "We've got to stop him! Do you have a plan?"

I tried my best to think up a plan quick. Finally, it hit me. "We've got to break his control of the Lake Guardians. If we can free Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf, they can use their powers to free Dialga and Palkia!"

Cynthia nodded her head. "Sounds great, lets do it. Garchomp use Draco meteor to break the red crystal on Uxie. Togekiss, use aura sphere at the same point on Azelf!"

I gave the same orders to my pokemon, too. "Lucario, Umbreon, use aura sphere and shadow ball on the crystal on Mesprit!"

All of our pokemon blasted their attacks towards their targets, striking them and shattering the crystals that were the source of Cyrus' control over them. Now freed, the Lake Guardians began to fly around in circles around Cynthia, my pokemon and myself.

"Uxie, Mesprit, Azelf," I said, "you need to stop Dialga and Palkia from finishing that portal! If you don't this world will be destroyed!"

They sang out their voices, then moved over to where the two great dragons were still working on the portal.

_Alex_

The quaking of the mountain was powerful enough to cause all of our pokemon to stop fighting. Out of nowhere, the clouds that were covering the night sky started turning a deep purple color, like just before a storm. It was freaking Candice and I out. Even the Galactic elites had no idea what was going on.

"Ahh, Alex!" cried Candice. "Whats going on, I'm scared!"

I looked around, and saw bright flashes of light in the clouds. A thunderstorm. I looked over at Candice. "I don't know! I think it's a thunderstorm, but it just came out of nowhere!"

Crasher ran over to Candice, who slipped and almost fell on account of the shaking, and caught her in his thick, muscular arms. "Careful there," he said in his gruff voice. "Can't have you fallin' off the cliff, now can we?" He turned to me, and said "Alex, we've got to get out of here. We're not safe out here in the open!"

Most of the Galactic elites ran off into the cave that lead to the bottom of Mt. Coronet. Crasher, Candice, Steph, and myself recalled our pokemon, and began to follow suit. We were almost to the cave, when I looked back and saw the three Galactic commanders still passed out in the snowfield. "Steph!" I cried out. "We can't leave them, they'll die!"

She looked back, saw them, and nodded. "Lets go get them and bring them inside! Crasher, stay here with Candice, okay?"

He nodded, and the two of us ran out to get the commanders. I picked up Mars, Steph grabbed Jupiter, and I brought out Blaziken to get Saturn. We took them to where Crasher was with Candice, and put them down.

"Alex," said Steph over the crashing of thunder, "What about Joe and Cynthia!"

I turned back to look at the cave where they'd gone in. It was far, and the lightning wasn't helping my confidence much, but I had no choice. "Steph, lets go get them!" I turned to Crasher and Candice. "You guys stay here and watch them, make sure they don't go anywhere!"

Crasher nodded confidently. Candice, while still looking scared, said "You guys don't worry about a thing, we've got 'em covered!"

Steph and I nodded, turned around, and dashed to the other cave, barely dodging bolts of lightning and clods of snow falling from the top of the mountain. When we got in, we found a staircase, so we high-tailed it up there to find Joe.

_Joe_

Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf began to fly in circles above the dragons, their eyes now glowing a bluish-purple color. Their voices began to ring out, surrounding us on the mountaintop. It sounded almost like an echo, even though there was nothing up here for the sound waves to bounce off of.

Luckily for us, Cyrus was completely distracted by what Dialga and Palkia were doing, and was paying no attention to the Guardians.

After a minute, the dragons' eyes returned to their normal color. They started to roar again, and the beams that were creating the portal suddenly cut off. The entryway began to shrink slowly.

Victorious, I laughed. "Cyrus!" I said. "You've been beat! What you want can't be obtained, we won't allow it."

Cyrus just stood there, motionless, his hands clasped behind his back, staring at the ever-shrinking portal.

"My world," he said, "my perfect world. There it is, just mere steps away. All I have to do is walk through, and it'll all be mine."

He started taking steps towards the portal. "CYRUS!" I shouted, about to start running towards him. Cynthia stretched her arm out in front of me, stopping me from proceeding any further. "Cynthia, what are you doing?" I asked.

"There's no point," she responded. "Cyrus will escape into the portal, but Dialga and Palkia have stopped what they were doing. For now, the destruction taking place below the mountain should have stopped. As long as our world is safe, we can let him go."

Grumbling, I refuted "But Cynthia, he has to pay for what he's done! For putting the Guardians in danger, for hijacking the Windworks, and for everything else that he's done that's put the entire world and everyone in it in jeopardy!"

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "That may be so, but I have a feeling that Cyrus is getting into something that is a bit over his head. He doesn't completely understand what he's doing. And, in this dimension or the next, it will be his downfall."

I considered what she said, watching Cyrus get closer and closer to the portal with each step. Finally, I nodded in agreement. Cyrus finally stepped into the portal, which was now barely large enough for him to fit through. He disappeared, and a few seconds later, so did the portal. He was gone.

_Steph_

After a few minutes running up what seemed like an endless flight of stairs, we came to a straight cave, at the end of which was moonlight. We kept running, and we ended up outside, in what seemed like ancient ruins above the cloud level. In front of us was a huge set of stairs. We were about to start walking up them, but then I saw what I can only describe as incredible: Dialga and Palkia! The masters of time and space. The two rose up into the air, and then left. Dialga flew off towards the east, disappearing into a blue circle, and Palkia flew off westwards, disappearing into a pink circle. Another thing that we saw were the Lake Trio, Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf. They all shot off in different directions, north, southeast, and southwest. From the top of the stairs, we could see Joe and Cynthia now, walking down towards us. We decided to meet them on a large landing between the two sets of stairs.

"JOE!" cried out Alex as they finally got to our level. She ran towards him, jumping up onto him for a hug. "Oh, are you okay? What happened? I just saw Dialga and Palkia and the Lake Trio and everyone, what's going on!"

As he tried to explain to her, I walked over to Cynthia. "Cynthia," I said, "what happened up here? Where's Cyrus, did he escape?"

She closed her eyes and faced down, smiling. "I guess you could say that," she replied. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I don't really consider what happened to be him escaping, but we'll never know."

She filled me in on what happened, from when she got here to when we did. Shocked that Cyrus would abandon his own people, I thanked her and we walked over to Joe, who had gotten Alex off of him, and he explained to all of us what happened from the time that he'd gotten up here.

"Then you guys came up, and now I guess we go back down," he finished. "So who's down there with the commanders? Don't tell me you guys left them all alone?"

I shook my head. "Nope. A little while after you headed up here, Candice and Crasher Wake showed up, and helped us take care of some of the Galactic trainers. They're down there now with Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Once we get out of here, I guess we'll turn them over to the International Police. That's why that guy, Looker, was undercover with them, right?"

Joe laughed, then said "Yeah, I guess so. You guys ready to go back down?"

We all nodded, then went back into the cave.

_Joe_

At the end of the cave, I saw that what Dialga and Palkia were doing had a significant effect on the mountain itself. The cave had crumbled a bit, with large rocks now in the way of the exit. We made our way carefully over them, but it was a bit difficult. Eventually, we were out of the cave and back out onto the snowfield.

To our surprise, there were two helicopters outside, with IP written in large letters on their sides. Spread around the area were at least two dozen police agents, members of the International Police. Over to one side, two of them were examining Looker, checking on his injuries. A couple of them were asking questions to Candice and Crasher. The three nearest to us noticed us come out of the cave, and rushed over to where we were quickly. Cynthia stepped in front of us, and they stopped.

"My name is Cynthia," she said, "champion of the Sinnoh region. These teenagers and I have successfully stopped team Galactic's plans here at Mt. Coronet."

They nodded, then one asked "Where is Cyrus, the leader of team Galactic? Did he escape?"

She shook her head. "He's gone. He entered a portal to another dimension, disappearing from this world." The police had a confused look on their faces, so she continued "If you'd like, I'll explain the entire situation to you."

One of them nodded, then said "Of course ma'am. Please, follow me."

She turned to us, then said "Good luck with your journeys, you three. Remember, if there's anything that keeps this world together, it is spirit, and feelings. If men like Cyrus were allowed to have their way, there would be no point to living. Without emotions, there is no life, no happiness. Remember this. Goodbye." And with that, she turned around and followed the police officer.

Two of them looked at us, then one asked "Are you three, by any chance, Joe, Alex, and Steph?"

We nodded, then he continued "Please, follow me, we need to get you three debriefed and back to Sandgem town. Professor Rowan would like to thank you, in person."

We followed him to one of the helicopters, and walking past the other, I saw Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter in handcuffs inside. I asked the officer "What'll happen to them? The commanders?"

"Oh, them?" he replied. "They'll be taken through the court system. Odds are, since they're part of the Galactic Corporation, theres a big chance that they'll only get a few months in prison, if we're lucky. Most likely, though, they'll get off with a slap on the wrist, or a small reprimand, or something like that, since they were just acting on the orders of Cyrus."

I smiled, then laughed. Steph looked at me, confused, then said "Joe, whats so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing," I replied, and got into our helicopter. Inside, already debriefed and ready to go, were Crasher and Candice.

"Joe!" shouted Candice, in her cheery, high-pitched voice. "Oh, I'm so glad to see that you're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm fine, great to see you again, Candice!" I replied. "And Crasher, its been so long! Are you still game for that rematch?"

He laughed, then said "Joe, kiddo, you know I'm always up for a battle, but this time I'm going to have to pass. I know when I've been beat, and I know when my pokemon need training. But soon, when they're ready, I'll take you down with one fell swoop!"

We both laughed, and shook hands as the helicopter lifted off and headed for Sandgem town. Once we'd spoken to Professor Rowan, it was off to Sunyshore city, and my eight and final gym badge.

_A few months later…_

_Shortly after the Sinnoh Conference qualifying matches…_

_Joe_

It seemed like such a long time since I'd competed in the Ever Grande Conference back home in Hoenn. I missed big tournament battles, and the battles of the last two days had been nothing short of amazing.

Yesterday and today, my pokemon battled hard, and their work paid off. We were now in the Top 64 of the Conference, and tomorrow marked the actual start of the full-on tournament matches. Alex and Frank had even come in from their bird pokemon training facility to watch me battle. Steph, them, and myself had all been in the pokemon center catching up. We hadn't seen them since after what happened with Galactic at Mt. Coronet.

I stepped out to get some air and let them talk for awhile longer. I was on the balcony on the top floor of the pokemon center, leaning over the railing and looking out on the bright lights lining the streets of the town where the Conference was being held.

"Like a thousand miles of fire," I said quietly to myself.

"Do great trainers always talk to themselves, or is that just you?" I heard a voice say from behind me. It sounded familiar. Arrogant, yet cute. I turned around, and was shocked to see Mars, the commander from team Galactic. She was standing in the doorway, about ten feet away from me.

I was surprised to see her, as evident from the look on my face. She quietly laughed, smiled, then started walking towards me. "Its been awhile, Joe," she said. She came up and leaned against the railing next to me. "I saw your match today, and yesterday too. Your pokemon got stronger. A lot stronger."

She wasn't wearing the same dress and tights that she'd worn during her time with Galactic. Now, she had on a pair of jeans that came tightly around her waist and legs, slimming all the way down to her ankles, where they met an old pair of Converse All-Stars. Instead of that dress, she had on a black Avenged Sevenfold T-shirt. It fit her body perfectly, wrapping around the top of her waist and up her body, and just the right way around her chest. Other than her hair, which was in the same style as before, she was completely different from the last time I'd seen her. She was hot.

"Thanks, I guess," I said, turning my eyes back out to the town. "What happened to you guys, after what happened at Mt. Coronet?"

She looked out in the same direction I was looking. "We were charged with conspiracy, and a couple other things, but Saturn and I only got minor jail time. Jupiter's in a mental health hospital, though. She had a breakdown after hearing about Cyrus disappearing. Saturn tried for awhile to help her, but she turned him away. Now he's in control of the Galactic Corporation, using their assets for more humanitarian and peaceful purposes. I quit after I got out, and started traveling with Purugly, and I decided to come check out the Conference."

I laughed, and turned to face her. "Yeah right, you expect me to believe that you're just here on your own accord? Let me guess, you couldn't hide your feelings for me any longer, and you had to come look for me so you could tell me?"

Her expression turned from melancholy to humor. "Hah, you wish, loser. I see how you're still using Bastiodon for your battles. Still compensating, I see." she smiled and turned away.

"Didn't you get that note I left you, Mars?" I asked, referring to the note I'd written and left in her pocket, including my phone number.

She turned back to me, still smiling, and said "I did, but why would I call you, when there's so many other guys out there who could probably satisfy me way better than you ever could?"

"Hah, good one," I replied. "I don't really have a comeback for that one, except this."

"Huh?"

I leaned over closer to her, closing the distance between our lips, and placing mine gently on hers. She could've pulled away at any time, but she didn't. In fact, she pressed hers up against mine, making the kiss slightly more forceful.

I pulled away, then said "Still wanna say I'm not compensating for anything?"

She laughed. "Okay, so maybe you're a good kisser. I'll give you that one. But what else 'ya got?" she winked at me with a devious little smile stretching across her face.

As I leaned in and kissed her again, one of the poke balls on my belt opened up, and Umbreon came out, standing next to us on the balcony. I pulled my lips away from Mars' to see what was going on. Umbreon looked up at me and Mars, confused. Then, I guess she understood what was going on, because she smiled, and started rubbing her cheek against Mars' leg.

Mars and I laughed, then kissed again. I wrapped my arms around her waist, and pulled her closer as she put her arms up around my shoulders. Once again, though, we were interrupted by Steph, Alex, and Frank. I looked over to them, Mars still in my arms, and laughed at the surprised looks on their faces.

"What? Never seen me kiss a girl before?" I asked. Before they could answer, I joked "Jeez guys, I know we're good friends and all, but you've really gotta stop with the jealousy thing, it's gone too far."

Mars and I laughed, then quickly kissed again before letting go of each other. "I'll be here for the rest of the Conference," she said. "I can't wait to see you compete again. I'm gonna go to bed, see you tomorrow?"

I smiled. "Sure thing, I'll see you later then." She walked past my friends, expressions of shock still on their faces. As she turned and walked towards the stairs, I caught a glimpse of her face, and she looked embarrassed.

I leaned back against the railing, my head spinning around in circles. Alex walked up to me, then out of nowhere she slapped me in the back of the head.

"Ouch!" I shouted. "What the hell was that for!"

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked back. "Joe, she's from team Galactic! I can't believe you were kissing her! What were you thinking!"

Steph came up, a bit more reasonable that Alex. "Joe, are you sure that was a good idea?"

I nodded, laughed, then said "Damn, you guys need to chill out. Mars isn't with Galactic anymore. She quit after they got out of jail, and she's been traveling to get closer with her pokemon ever since."

Steph nodded. "Okay Joe," she said, "but if she puts one foot out of line, does one thing to make me think we're in danger, I'm taking her down myself."

Alex put her arm around Steph's shoulders. "Yup, Steph's right! I've got her back if anything goes down, Joe. Make sure your girl stays in check, or we're gonna have to put her back in."

I looked at Frank, who was leaning against the wall of the pokemon center. "What about you, Frank?" I asked. "Whats your opinion on it?"

He looked up at me, and said "You want my opinion? I think as long as its what you want, and Umbreon's okay with it," he looked over at Umbreon, who was sitting back on her rear, looking up at him and smiling, "then its okay with me. But honestly dude, I think you should get some rest. You've got a big battle tomorrow, and you're gonna want to be rested up so you're in perfect condition, you get me?"

I nodded, and we all went inside to go to bed. After everything that happened so far, from Fresno to now, I was just glad to be where I was, with the people and pokemon I cared about. And on top of it, I now had another fan in the stands cheering for me. That would definitely be a plus during tomorrow's match.

But for now, sleep.


End file.
